Shiloh or sham: Was the messianic message of Genesis 49:10 lost in translation?

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You may have noticed this key passage in the Torah passage וַיְחִי Vayechi (“he lived,” Genesis 47:28–50:26):

“The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
“He ties his foal to the vine, And his donkey’s colt to the choice vine; He washes his garments in wine, And his robes in the blood of grapes.
“His eyes are dull from wine, And his teeth white from milk.”
Genesis 49:10-12 NASB95

Gen. 49:10 teaches us three important signs of the Messiah (Tim Hegg, “Messiah in the Tanach,” TorahResource, 2016, page 60):

That He would born from the tribe of Yehudah.
The Messiah would be a ruler/king of Israel. However, some translations say the prophesied person would be a scribe or teacher over Israel.
He will gather the nations of the world to His rule or dominion. This builds on the Abrahamic covenant of Gen. 12:1–3. The promised Messiah is going to come through Abraham into all of the world, and bless the entire world through Abraham’s lineage.

But Gen. 49:10 has a few different renderings into English, depending on the translation: “until Shiloh comes,” “until he comes to Shiloh” or “until he comes to whom it belongs.”

It’s important for us to consider these different translations and have a rational answer for the modern scholars and anti-missionary activists who criticize the Apostolic Writings, claiming the apostles were playing fast and loose with quotations from the Hebrew Scriptures, shoe-horning messianic meanings into texts that supposedly don’t have such overtones.

Let’s explore whether Gen. 49:10 is an important calling card of the Messiah or reckless translation by believers in Yeshua.

Thread of Messiah starts at the fall of humanity

But before we consider Gen. 49:10, let’s follow the thread of prophecy back through the Bible. The first key Messianic foreshadowing came just after mankind rebelled against the Creator:

“And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.”
Genesis 3:15 NASB95

There is an interesting Hebrew play on the word for heel — עָקֵב ’aqeyv — which comes from the same verb (עָקַב ’aqav) as the name יַעֲקֹב Ya’akov.¹

One way you can read Gen. 3:15 is that, in extended sense, the serpent would strike or bruise the “seed” (i.e., descendant) of Israel, but that seed would ultimately crush the head of the serpent (i.e., an offspring of Eve would crush the leadership of the serpent). But this “seed” would do more than defeat the serpent; he would also reunite Heaven with humanity.

Promise of reconnecting humanity and Heaven through Yehudah

This promise of the Seed descended from Eve to Noah’s son Shem, to Abraham, Yitzkhak (Isaac) and Ya’akov, then to Yehudah. It would be through a descendant of Yehudah that all the nations of the world would be blessed.

The text of Gen 49:10 has been interpreted as messianic for a very long time, at least going back to several centuries B.C. We see this in these ancient writings (Hegg, 57):

Dead Sea Scrolls (3rd to 1st centuries B.C.)
Targumim: Aramaic translations (2nd and 3rd centuries A.D.)
Some Talmudic passages (A.D. 400–1000)
Some medieval commentators: Rashi, Kimkhi/Kimchi, Nahmanides, Abarbanel

Note the translation differences in Gen 49:10 from the King James Version (1611) and New King James Version (1982):

“The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.” (Genesis 49:10 KJV)

“The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor a lawgiver from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes; And to Him shall be the obedience of the people.” (Genesis 49:10 NKJV)

There’s been a shift in translation between the KJV and the NKJV, changing the term from “gathering” to “obedience.”

“A ruler shall not be wanting from Ioudas and a leader from his thighs until the things stored up for him come, and he is the expectation of nations.”
Genesis 49:10 A New English Translation Of The Septuagint

The Septuagint translation of this verse avoids the term “Shiloh” altogether. The Septuagint was translated in the two to three centuries before Christ, roughly contemporaneous to the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Septuagint is a “thought for thought” translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek. It’s not as much of a paraphrase as the Targums are, but it’s not a literal word for word translation.

The New International Version (1979, 2010), English Standard Version (2001) and the Jewish Publication Society (1917) are more similar to the Septuagint than the Hebrew Masoretic text:

“The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come and the obedience of the nations shall be his.”
Genesis 49:10 NIV

“The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.”
Genesis 49:10 ESV

“The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet; So that tribute shall come to him, and the homage of peoples be his.”
Genesis 49:10 JPS

There are several Targumim out there. They are paraphrases of the Hebrew Scriptures and were in common synagogue use in first to third centuries A.D.: Targum Jonathan, Targum Psedo-Jonathan and Targum Onkelos. Onkelos is the Targum we have the most copies of from archaeology. The Targums are all in Aramaic, which is a sister language to Hebrew.

“The ruler shall never depart from the House of Judah, nor the scribe [or teacher] from his children’s children for evermore – until the Messiah comes, whose is the kingdom, and him shall the nations obey. He shall lead Israel about his city; the people will build his Temple. The righteous shall be round about him, and they that carry out the Torah (shall be engaged) in study with him. Let his raiment be of fine purple, and his garment all woolen, crimson and multi-colored. His mountains shall be red with his vineyards; his vats shall overflow with wine; his valleys shall be white with grain and with flocks of sheep.”
Genesis 49:10–12 Targum Onkelos

This is a very loose translation. It’s more of a paraphrase. Notice the Targum injects a lot of imagery and messianic expectation from the Prophets, with they talk about the sheep, and the vineyards, and rebuilt temple, merging them into the Genesis text. Onkelos likely came after the Romans had destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem for the second time and after the Gospels and the rest of the Apostolic Writings were written.

The Targums were a lectionary of Scriptures used in common readings in synagogues, with a mix of scripture and commentary that can be difficult to separate. The Targums combine a scripture reading and a homily in the same text.

The Targums are a blend of scripture and commentary. So unless you know what the scriptures originally said, it’ll be hard for you to back out the commentary from it. So just be careful when you’re reading this and not like memorize this version of it.

The fact that the Targums, which were written after the Apostolic age, are very clear that Gen. 49:10-12 is a Messianic prophesy.

The Dead Sea scrolls version of Gen. 49:10-12, is something of a patchwork because what remains are fragments that scholars have to reassemble. Thus there are a lot of gaps in the verse. Here’s a translation of scroll 4Q252, column 5:

“A ruler shall [not] be removed from the tribe of Judah. While Israel has dominion, there will [not] lack someone who sits on the throne of David. For <the staff> is the covenant of royalty, [the thou]sands of Israel are <the feet>. Until the Righteous Messiah comes, the branch of David. For to him and to his descendants has been given the covenant of royalty over his people for all everlasting generations, which he has observed [. . .] the Torah with
the men of the Yahad, for [. . .] it is the assembly of the men of [ . . . . .] He gives”
Genesis 49:10-12 Dead Sea Scrolls (4Q252, column 5), Martinez translation

One thing you’re see in many of the Dead Sea Scrolls, is that there are some sections that are more like the Targums in that they have commentary interspersed in them. But just like we see in the Targums, the authors of the Dead Sea Scrolls emphatically state that Shiloh means “the righteous Messiah” — no doubt about it.

So those who would say that Shiloh as a messianic reference was a Christian innovation would have to argue with the authors of the Targums and the Dead Sea Scrolls, who also saw this text as an expression of messianic hope.

The last texts we will review on this matter are from the Talmud, which are a commentary by notable Jewish figures from a few hundred to over 1,000 years after the Gospels.

Some parts of the Talmud clearly believe that Genesis 49:10 is a Messianic prophesy, but some parts that state the opposite. That can be confusing. But the Talmud is a collection of ideas which doesn’t not come to a final conclusion on a matter. It’s written to encourage study and reflection, not to make an emphatic interpretation or decision on the one and only meaning of a particular text.

Here’s a Talmud discussion that notes from Gen. 49:10 what Messiah’s name is:

Rab said: “The world was created only on David’s account.” Samuel said: “On Moses account”; R. Johanan said: “For the sake of the Messiah.” What is his [the Messiah’s] name?— The School of R. Shila said: “His name is Shiloh, for it is written, ‘until Shiloh come.’”
Talmud Sanhedrin 98b

The fact that the Dead Sea Scrolls were written for a Jewish, anti-Hellenistic audience, and that the Septuiagint, which were written for a Jewish pro-hellenistic audience, both agree that Genesis 49:10-12 is a messianic prophesy can’t be ignored. There’s also congruence between the Septuagint and the Masoretic text.

The modern English translations, which were translated since 1948 have used insights gleaned from the Dead Sea Scrolls to inform their translations of the Bible.

How is it that the Masoretic text is so different from the Dead Sea Scrolls or the Septuagint?

The Masoretic text of the Hebrew scriptures, included margin notes next to the scripture text to give the readers instructions on how a text should be read out loud to public to avoid confusing notions for the congregation. These instructions were called kere, while the word ketiv describes the verse as it’s actually written in the main text of the scroll.

The Masorites were more careful than the writers of the Targums to differentiate between the plain letter of the Hebrew Scriptures versus the commentary on those verses.

How did these different translations of Gen. 49:10 come about?

The short answer is that the some of the translations translated the verse more literally while others used insights from margin notes that were in the original text.

In the Masoretic Hebrew text, there were margin notes were placed there to instruct the reader on how the text was supposed to be read in public to avoid confusing notions for the congregation (Hegg, 58). The third clause of Gen. 49:10 in Hebrew (כִּי־יָבֹא שִׁילֹה ki-yavo shiloh) contains a kere/ketiv in the Hebrew text. The written text (ketiv) has שִׁילהָ shilah, but the margin note (kere) has שִׁילוֹ shilo.

The differences are reflected in the English translations (Hegg):

NASB, “until Shiloh comes,” translating Shiloh as a name, of either a place or a person. This is based on the Masoretic text itself.
NIV, “until he comes to whom it belongs,” taking the correct reading to be שִׁילוֹ shilo. Which comes from the Masoretic margin note, rather than from the text itself.

Other English translations have:

NRSV, “until tribute comes to him.”
JPS, “so that tribute shall come to him.”
The Septuagint must have read שֶׁלוֹ shelo, because it is translated “until that which is reserved comes to him,” which would understand the disputed word as  שֶׁ + לוֹ (sheh + lo), “which belongs to him.”

Bible evidence for “Shiloh” as a personal name versus a reference to the ancient Israel city of Shiloh seems to point to the former than the latter (Hegg, 58–59).

What if “Shiloh” is a place name (Josh. 16:6; 18:1, 9; 1Sam. 1:3, 9)? Because the tabernacle [or temple?] was placed in Shiloh until the tabernacle was destroyed at Shiloh on account of the sins of the priests (cf. Jer 7:12-14), “Shiloh” became a symbol of divine judgement in Genesis 49:10-12 for how God punishes sin. Could this be a prophecy meaning that the tabernacle or temple will not be completed “until He comes to Shiloh”? Jeremiah had warned the people that if God was willing to destroy Shiloh because of the priest’s sins, He would also be willing to destroy Jerusalem in a similar way.

What if Shiloh is a personal name derived from the verb שׁלה, “to rest” (Psa. 122:6)? Is this an early reference to שׂר שׁלוֹם sar shalom, “prince of peace” (Isa. 9:6]?

Messiah: The rest of the story

Genesis 49:10-12 shows us that the One who is coming through the Patriarch Yehudah, would be one who would bring rest, who would bring peace, who would be that King, and would be the one gathering all the peoples. He is that fulfillment of the promise that was given to Abraham that all of the world would be blessed through the Messiah. The blessing that the Messiah brings is the assembling of the people of all the nations to enter God’s rest.

“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”)
Matthew 11:28–30 NASB95

מְנַחֵם Menachem, which means “comforter” in Hebrew, is one of the names of the Messiah, from נַחֲמוּ נַחֲמוּ עַמִּי nachamu, nachamu ami (“comfort, O comfort My people”) in Isaiah 40:1–2. Those who had read the Prophets knew that they foretold that the Messiah would be a Comforter (מְנַחֵם Menachem, παράκλητος Parakletos). So when Yeshua told His disciples in John 13–17 that He will send a Comforter/Helper (Parakletos), one Comforter had to leave to the right hand of the Father so that the other Comforter could come (John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7).

This Comforter is introduced to us in Genesis and hints about Him are woven through all the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation. He was there. He is there. And He will be there.

Marginal Bible study

When you see in the margins of your Bible alternative readings of a particular text that one would think should be so simple, I would advise you to look for the common thread that connects one scripture with another. If the alternate reading confuses or clouds the flow of the message from Eden of Genesis 3 to Eden of Revelation 21–22. The Bible is a message that came from Heaven, transmitted through His faithful servants throughout time down to us.

This is a good lesson when studying the Scriptures to always consider both (or more) sides of an interpretation.

The first to plead his case seems right, Until another comes and examines him.
Proverbs 18:17 NASB95

This guidance is not only helpful when it comes to reading the newspapers or watching the nightly news on TV, it’s also helpful when it comes to studying the scriptures and all the different commentaries one can find on the Scriptures. You have to test them, don’t just swallow everything that someone teaches about the scriptures.

Summary: Tammy